China’s Great Wall joins Paddy’s Day party

The iconic Great Wall of China will become the Green Wall of China this weekend when it goes green for the first time ever to celebrate St Patrick’s Day, joining Tourism Ireland’s Global Greening 2014. The installation of green lights on the famous wall will be made possible by the combined efforts of the Irish Embassy and the Tourism Ireland team in China, as well as Ireland’s Foreign Affairs Office based in Beijing.

Tourism Ireland’s annual Global Greening initiative sees over 100 landmark buildings and iconic sites around the world signed up to take part this year. In another coup for Irish tourism, the famous Moulin Rouge in Paris will once again become the Moulin Vert when the sun sets on Paddy’s Day.

In the US, Chicago’s week-long ‘greening’ celebrations kicked off on Monday. In a week-long celebration to make it the ‘greenest’ city in the world, major buildings around the Windy City go green this week. Each day the focus is on a theme, be it sports venues, buildings, cultural attractions or food.